U.N.: Ag production losing diversity

ROME, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- U.N. food specialists say agricultural production has lost about three-quarters of its genetic diversity in the past century.

Director General of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization Jacques Diouf said Friday that while biodiversity is vital to the productive use of the world's marginal land, the world is dependent on a dozen crops and a barely larger number of animal species.

In remarks at a World Food Day ceremony in Rome, he said FAO was raising the alarm about the situation in which "just 12 crops and 14 animal species now provide most of the world's food."

He said, "For many rural families, the sustainable use of local biodiversity is their key to survival. It allows them to exploit marginal lands and ensure a minimum level of food production even when faced with extremely harsh conditions."

Diouf added, "Global food security depends not just on protecting the world's genetic resources, but also on ensuring that these resources remain available to all."

Preserving biodiversity should be a joint effort involving farmers, commercial plant breeders and the scientific community, he said.